Third time’s the charm: Sara Lopez’ three international matches against men

Sara Lopez is a five-time Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion and has spent more time ranked as world number one than any other archer since the start of the current competition era in 2006.

Over the past few years, she’s been selected to appear in several exhibition matches, shooting against the sport’s top men.

It started in 2016 when she faced Mike Schloesser in Antalya in a battle between the two compounders then ranked number one in the world. She then shot against Jesse Broadwater in the warm-up Legends Match introduced ahead of the Indoor Archery World Series Finals in 2020.

And, most recently, she faced Anders Faugstad, the reigning World Archery Youth Champion and runner-up at the 2019 senior worlds, in the final of the Lockdown Knockout.

“It’s a pleasure to have been selected [for this tournament] with all these girls,” said Sara before the final of World Archery’s first remote event. “I admire them so much, so I’ll be sure I win this for them.”

And win she did. Lopez defeated Faugstad, 146-144, to take yet another major title – this one unique – and her first international victory against a man. 

1. Sara versus Mike

Sara shot against Mike Schloesser in a battle of the then world number ones at the Hyundai Archery World Cup stage in Antalya in 2016.

2. Sara versus Jesse

Sara shot against Jesse Broadwater in the Legends Match in 2020, a warm-up for the Indoor Archery World Series Finals in Las Vegas.

3. Sara versus Anders

Sara shot against Anders Faugstad in the final of the Lockdown Knockout, World Archery’s first international remote tournament, in May 2020.

More mixed gender?

Sara Lopez said this when asked what the difference between men and women was on the archery field:

“For years we were in a comfort zone of shooting lower scores because we thought that was all we were capable of but we are now starting to realise that we are capable of shooting better scores, even higher than the men’s scores.”

This when asked if she would compete against men more often:

“I have shot with men three times and I also shot in the open category in Vegas [in 2017]. It’s always harder because of the pressure to win. For years, we have been told that men are better than women but just a couple of years ago we started to realise that’s not true.”

The Lockdown Knockout is the first remote international event being streamed live across World Archery’s digital platforms.